Self-saving fire-escape apparatus.



No. 794,562. PATBNTED JULY 11, 1905. P. 'STABE.

SELF SAVING FIRE ESCAPE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15, 1004.

Fig. 4

WITNESSES: INVENTOR'Z UNITED STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE- FEODOR STABE, OF REMSCHEID, GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 794,562, dated July 11, 1905. Application filed March 15, 1904. Serial No. 198,204.

To all whom. it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FEoDoR STABE, a subject of the German Emperor, residing at Remscheid, in the Province of the Rhine, Prussia, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Saving Fire-Escape Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

It is a well-known fact that in case of fire, especially in larger cities,where the buildings have many stories, persons confined in the upper stories of a burning building are often burned to death because there is no way to reach them and on account of the great height, which prevents them from saving themselves by jumping to the street or to some other place of safety. Even where large nets are held by firemen for persons to jump into the person who uses this opportunity of escaping the flames is often killed by missing the net and falling onto the pavement or at least is in most cases seriously injured by fracturing a limb or sustaining internal injuries.

My invention now relates to a self-saving fire-escape apparatus whereby persons may easily not only save themselves even at great heights, but alsoo thers, and my new apparatus enables them to do so without any risk to life whatever. 7

As my new apparatus is extremely simplein construction, it can be made very inexpensive, so that in large ofiice-buildings, theaters, and other public buildings a large number of this apparatus can be provided in a similar way as life-preservers are kept on vessels ready for use.

' The apparatus, as shown in the drawings, consists merely of a strong wire of metal having a large number of closely-arranged spiral windings, a large hook attached to its upper end for fastening the wire to some part of the burning building, and a girdle or some other similar device attached to its lower end, which may be used to be placed around the body ofa person or as a hold for the leg, arm,

or hand.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows the new apparatus ready for use. Fig. 2 shows the apparatus with part of the spiral As seen from Fig. 1, the apparatus consists in its simplest form of a long strong wire a, of metal, having a large number of closelyarranged spiral windings b. Secured to the upper end of the wire a is a large hook 0, adapted to be fastened to some suitable part of the buildingas, for instance, the window frame. The lower end of the wire a is provided with an eye 0, to which a safety-hook (Z can be attached carryinga girdle orleather belt 6, which may be adjusted to any part of the body of the person using the apparatus.

The wire a is made of a soft material, and the windings are so arranged that the weight of a person will be'able to stretch the close windings of the wire, as shown at f in Fig. 2.

The way of using this apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 4, where g designates the body of a woman who has fastened the girdle or belt 6 (shown in Fig. 1) around her waist and after having secured the large hook 0 to the upper window-frame lb of the burning building has jumped out of the window 2', the weight of her body gradually stretching the spiral windings of the wire at out so that she reaches the ground with safety, thus escaping the flames, which, as shown in Fig. 4, are coming forth from the window'c'.

While at first the spiral windings of the wire (6 allow the person to descend with some speed, this speed will be checked the more the windings of .the'wire are stretched out, so that even if the wire is too long compared with the height from which the person jumps the latter will reach the ground without any injury to himself, as the gradual stretching or unwinding of the wire is an effectual brake, and thus retards the initial speed of the fall of the persons weight. Even heavy persons, as has been tested by experiments, will reach the ground with safety and at almost the same I final speed as persons of a lighter weight, though the initial speed of a heavy persons fall is increased compared with that of alighter person.

Instead of using a girdle or belt which is fastened around the waist a person may use merely a ring, through which a limb of the bodya leg, for instance-is passed, while with one hand the person holds onto the wire a. This is shown by the person designated by 70, who, as seen from the left side of Fig. 4:, has passed one of his legs through a ring l, attached to the lower end of the wire a, whereas with one hand he holds onto the Wire (0, thereby permitting always only so much of the spiral windings to become stretched by the weight of his body as is above the hold of his hand. The person using the apparatus in this manner has it in his power to effectively brake the unwinding of the spiral windings or even to stop the unwinding entirely, and the speed with which the person reaches the ground will in this case depend entirely on the will of the person using the apparatus. By loosening the hold of the hand on the wire further windings will be stretched, the hand during that time gliding loosely over the wire. For people having a tender skin it will be wise to use a handkerchief in this case, as the wire otherwise may painfully injure the palm of the hand.

In order to enable the person using the apparatus to more securely control the unwinding of the windings b, a short piece of a pipe m is provided, being flared at both ends and having the belt (a or ring Z attached to it by a rope n. Said short pipe m is passed over the wire a above the windings I), as shown in Fig. 3, so that only one winding at a time can be stretched, by which arrangement the speed at the beginning of the fall will be substantially the same as at the end thereof. As shown in Fig. 2, to the upper end of the pipe on there may be attachedapiece of leather 0, surrounding the stretched part of the wire a, and the person in firmly grasping this piece of leather 0 may, as illustrated by the persons 12 and q in Fig. L, brake the speed of the unwinding of the windings b or stop the unwinding entirely at any moment without inflicting any injury to the palm of his hand.

The fireman (designated by the referenceletter 1' in Fig. 4:) illustrates an instance where a person may save another person in holding the same in one of his arms, while using the apparatus to glide securely to the ground, using the other arm to firmly grasp the wire a, and thus regulate the speed of the descent.

In cases where the apparatus is used in connection with the short pipe m and the leather piece 0 attached thereto the length of the Wire a and the number of windings I) are of no account, as the speed of unwinding of the windings can be well regulated by the person using the apparatus.

The apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2 shows besides the ring Z, attached to the short pipe m, an eye 8 at the lower end of the windings b of the wire a, which eye may be used as means to attach to the wire light bodiesas, for instance, such of children.

1 wish it to be understood that the apparatus as illustrated in the drawings is a specific illustration, and I do not wish to limit myself to the details of said apparatus, as changes may be made which will fall under the scope of my invention.

What I wish to claim and protect by Letters Patent is- 1. In a self-saving fire-escape apparatus, com prising a wire having a plurality of closely-arranged windings, means for attaching the wire, a short pipe surrounding the Wire above the windings and permitting only one winding at a time to unwind, means secured to the pipe for supporting a body and means attached to said pipe and adapted to be tightly held for braking and stopping the unwinding entirely.

2. In a self-saving fire-escape apparatus, comprising a wire having a plurality of windings, means for attaching the wire, a pipe surrounding the wire above the windings to permit only one winding to unwind at a time means removably secured to the pipe for supporting a body and a leather piece attached to said pipe, by means of which leather piece the wire above the windings may be tightly held and further unwinding of said windings checked.

3. In a self-saving fire-escape apparatus, comprising a wire having a plurality of windings, means for attaching the wire, a short pipe surrounding the wire above the windings to permit one winding only to unwind at a time, a leather piece secured to said short pipe by means of which leather piece the wire above the windings may be tightly held against further unwinding and means connected with said short pipe for supporting a body.

4. In a self-saving fire-escape apparatus, comprising a wire having a plurality of windings, means for attaching the Wire, a short pipe surrounding the wire above said windings to permit the unwinding of one winding only at a time, and means secured to the pipe for supporting a body said short pipe being flared at both ends to permit of an easy passage of the windings through said short pipe without injury to the wire.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FEODOR STABE.

Witnesses:

ENGELBERT VoL nR, VICTOR W. HELDF. 

